In Slovenia, timber volume harvested with modern CTL technologies, is increasing. As a result, forest soil, as non-renewable natural resource, is more often exposed to damage. The purpose of this thesis was therefore to establish the impact of the type of forest route and presence of slash on the rut depth, the extent of ruts exceeding 10 cm in depth, and to compare the results obtained with several various criteria of acceptable soil damage. In 2018, at the site measuring 2.56 ha and with 1,382 m of forest routes (except forest roads), soil damage measurements were carried out at 1062 segments. Average forest skid trail width was 3.65 m, and track width 3.73 m. Share of the damaged soil area amounted to 21.98%, of which 63.61% due to tracks. On 36.19% of tracks the depth of ruts exceeded 10 cm. Average rut depth (8.64 cm) on the tracks was significantly lower than on the skid trails (18.93 cm). Rut depth was significantly lower with the presence of slash on the forest route (6.36 cm). Of all of the criteria of acceptable soil damage selected, soil damage at the site was acceptable only under one criterion, namely the only one that does not consider rut depth as an indicator of soil damage. Results of the survey are particularly relevant from the point of view of soil damage prevention in forest production, evaluation of various criteria of acceptable soil damage, and creation of new, professionally acceptable criteria.
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